Lies and Cars
by binkeybella
Summary: Gibbs surprises Tony with something of a mechanical nature. Spoilers for "Bury Your Dead", sequel to "Guys and Cars".


Title: Lies and Cars  
Rated: T for language

Summary: Gibbs surprises Tony with something of a mechanical nature. Spoilers for 'Bury Your Dead'. Sequel to 'Guys and Cars'.

****

A/N: Thanks to my beta gotgoats. Bunny has been a very busy bunny, so Ms. goats is filling in for her for a bit! I have decided to make this story a bit AU; normally, other than my Tony kidfic, I stay pretty close to canon, but frankly, I'm really sick of the way they all run hot and cold from episode to episode, so I'm going to write at least this one a bit OOC. No slash, Father/son/comfort.

Not since Gibbs had watched DiNozzo get tossed out the door of the cargo jump plane had he woken up in such a cold sweat, bolt upright and heart pounding wildly. Tonight, lying beneath his boat, he was seeing a green Mustang explode, with his second in it. Gripped in the arm lock of the nightmare, Gibbs didn't hear footsteps pounding down the stairs behind him as he tried to orient himself and separate dream from reality.

"You okay, Boss?" a quiet but steady voice came from somewhere above him. Tony's voice. His Tony, that he came staggeringly close to losing today. Gibbs had 'strongly encouraged' DiNozzo to come to his place for the night, claiming to want to be there for him if he needed to talk, which was true, but mostly so Gibbs could verify for himself, as many times as he needed to, that Tony was alive, breathing, and not a charred skeleton in the seat of that Mustang.

The older man forced himself to gain a grip, and swiped a hand over his face.

"Yeah, DiNozzo." he answered with a shaky voice. "How 'bout you?"

"Couldn't sleep, keep seeing...her face when I told her."

"Yeah. I don't imagine you could. You wouldn't be the kinda guy I think you are if you slept like a baby after that." He sighed, and threw off the old wool blanket he used for his makeshift bed. "I keep seeing your goddamn car blow up in front of my eyes, and then see ya sittin' there toasted in the driver's seat..." He looked up at Tony with an emotion that Tony had never seen in the man's eyes, and the younger agent had to stop himself from taking a step back at the surprise of it - anguish mixed with left-over shock, vying with something else Tony couldn't quite put a label on. Mostly because he had never seen it directed at him, save for Ducky's sometimes grandfatherly looks of concern.

Gibbs looked away, aware he was revealing too much, and not yet comfortable with the feeling. He was still off his game, a little nauseous and shaky from the day's events, and he knew he needed to get his emotional act together.

"Need somethin' to eat, any pizza left?"

"Yeah. Quite a bit. I guess I could go for some, too." Tony told him quietly. He looked at his watch. It was three o'clock in the morning. Well, he supposed anytime was a good time for pizza, and followed his boss up the basement stairs. He watched the man closely, noting Gibb's slight sway. Too much bourbon and not enough of that pizza before he passed out under the boat. Tony wasn't going to say a word to the man about it, he knew the over-imbibing was due to his own near-death experience.

Gibbs said nothing and made a bee-line for the fridge and tossed out the box of pizza onto the small kitchen table, then microwaved a mug of cold coffee. Tony settled into a chair and numbly grabbed a slice, not even aware his boss was talking to him now.

"I said I talked to Jen after you left tonight. Needed to get a few things straight."

Tony came to attention immediately and stopped chewing. He didn't even want to _think _about what had gone on in that office when Gibbs got her alone for more than two minutes. Did he even still have a _job, _and if he did, was he going to be demoted to Probie, or even be on Gibb's team?

"Oh, don't worry, DiNozzo, yer not goin' anywhere. It wasn't about you, at least not about anything you did. This was about her and her god damned vendetta that almost got you dead! She had no right using you like that, I don't give a god damn about _what _she says about bringing down an international arms dealer, she would've had you out there if he'd been a god damn _hotdog _vendor! What she _asked _of you...God.."

"You sayin' I should've told her no, Boss?"

"No, DiNozzo, she would've manipulated or blackmailed you into it one way or the other, but - "

Gibbs saw Tony's already pale face blanch out another shade, and slammed his coffee mug onto the counter.

"Don't even _tell _me she forced you into this!" Gibbs yelled, not caring that both their nerves were shot and that it was three in the morning.

"Forced is - sort of a harsh word, Boss. More like… backed into a corner."

"What the hell is the difference to _that?"_ Gibbs spat back.

"Boss, please, let's not go there tonight, I can't do it, I just can't."

Tony's words were a plea, but also an order, and Gibbs recognized it as such. He could only guess at what his former Probie had threatened DiNozzo with, but it couldn't have been good, especially if Tony admitted she'd been underhanded about it. Gibbs was ready to go storm the Director's home and demand even more answers from her on this goatrope of an operation, but knew she'd never let him in the door at this time of the morning. Instead he sighed resignedly and sank into the chair across from his second.

"She'll get through it eventually, and move on, Tony." he told the younger man in a now unusually gentle voice. "So will you. God knows you'll never get _over _it, but you'll get through it. You won't have any choice."

"Wish I'd never..." Tony said contemplatively, and then just stopped.

"Never what? Followed me home from Baltimore?"

There was humor in Gibb's voice, but also a trace of truth or dare aimed at his SFA.

"No, Boss. I'll never regret that. Just... a lot of things afterwards. Like wishing we never went on that case last year." Tony admitted quietly, not looking at up at his mentor. But Gibbs knew exactly what case he was talking about - Pin Pin Pula and the exploding ship, when his and the team's world got blown to hell. "I wish I'd never let Jen set me up like she did, but at the time, I just didn't think I had a choice. And yeah, some day I'll tell ya what she did, but not tonight. Not for a while. We still have to work for her, whether she's a whack job or not. Not sure myself who's the brick shy of a full load right now, could easily be me, and she's the one who has their act together. Anyways, it doesn't matter. As long as you'll have me, I'll work for ya."

Gibbs eyes narrowed in almost to slits as he assessed his second in command.

"The Director tell ya I wanted you off my team?" He growled across the table.

"No. Not recently. Just figured that after you found out I'd been - moonlighting without telling you, and then got my cover blown, you'd be done with me."

Tony glanced up, and then away from his boss, not sure he wanted to see the confirmation his boss's eyes.

"Tony, look at me."

Gibbs waited for the younger man to look up and acknowledge him before speaking again. DiNozzo held him in a wary gaze, green eyes darkened with stress and worry.

"I'll never be done with you, DiNozzo. You're a work in progress. All probies are, even when they're Senior Field Agents. And when there comes the day that for whatever reason you're not my SFA, you'll still be mine. Always have been, always will be, even though there's lots of times I do and say shit that makes you think otherwise. I know we hit a really rough spot in the road a few months ago, and it was on me, _all _of it. I can't take back any of what I did or said, but I can admit I was the jackhole in the whole thing. And I can only guess, but I'm gonna take a stab and say that Jen told ya to take the op or get the hell off the team so there could be some peace and quiet in the bullpen. Either way, she won. If you were gone, she would've gotten someone from Balboa's team, found some way to blackmail them, or just out and out lied to them about what she was doing to them. Am I right, Tony?"

DiNozzo stared down at his pizza plate, the slice barely touched. His fingers were clenching and unclenching in his lap, and Gibbs could see the tension in his SFA's jaw and forehead.

"Said she'd transfer me to Kurachi for the rest of my career. We both _know _she could, and _would _make that happen for me."

"Gee-zus, Tony. _Pakistan? _She really threatened you with that?"

"Yeah, Boss." Tony admitted, barely audible. "She was pissed at all of us for...well, for not being what she needed us to be, for not being on the same page as her when it came to wanting 'the Frog' on a stick and over the flames like she did - does. She's not … " Tony stopped mid-sentence, not wanting to make things worse with his observations.

"She's not what, Tony? Finish it, whatever it is, it needs to be said, or you wouldn't have started saying it."

"She's not right in the head about this, Boss. Like you weren't over Ari, only this is like, ten times worse. I don't know what she blames him for, but she wants him so bad she's willing to gamble her career, and maybe even her freedom on catching him. Right now I'm _so _not her biggest fan, but I guess I don't really wanna see her being toted out of here in cuffs or a straight-jacket, either. Problem is, I don't see anything we can do about it. If we go to SecNav with it, she'll just convince him that we're obstructing her pursuit of a dangerous arms dealer, and get suspended or fired."

"Yeah. Yer probably right. It's got something to do with her father, but I don't know what. Not sure I want to. You gonna finish that pizza?"

"Nah, guess not, Boss. Don't have much more of an appetite than I had before. Maybe even less now. You goin' back to the basement?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"Could I come down there with you, I mean, try sleeping on that cot you have stashed down there?"

Gibbs gifted the younger man with a warm smile. He knew Tony would feel comforted in the place he had found so much solace in the past.

"Yeah. C'mon. Gonna work on the boat for a while. We don't have to talk about anything."

A few minutes later, Gibbs was planing a piece of wood, while Tony settled himself onto the cot after grabbing the old pillow and extra blanket from under Gibb's workbench. The older man heard him heave several quiet sighs, but kept on with his work.

"Got somethin' ya need to say, DiNozzo?" he questioned without looking up from the wood.

"I - I wanted to tell ya - I mean- I know you knew I was working an op, but… I really wanted to talk to you about...what was happening, and maybe...given me some advice."

"You know I would've told ya to get out before it went to hell. You would've stayed cause you always finish what you start. Not much to work with there, Tony. But for what it's worth? I wish I _had _known what she was putting you through. I would've helped you somehow, even if you didn't bail on the op. No point in second-guessing anything, it could've gone done a hundred different ways and still caught everyone by surprise. Jen said there was no way your cover could be blown, and I stupidly believed her. She was so freaking obsessed with doing things her way, she couldn't read anything going on around her, not even in her own back yard. I don't feel one iota of sympathy for her, and I let her know it last night. I don't expect she's gonna be inviting me to any fancy dinner parties anytime soon."

"Go to a lot of them with her, do ya?" Tony smirked into his pillow.

"You know what I mean, DiNozzo. Whatever old ties and memories we had left went up in smoke like your Mustang. If it had been anyone else but you she'd done this to..."

Gibbs let his sentence trail off along with his dark thoughts, and went back to his boat work. It was quiet for a while, while Tony digested what Gibbs had just told him. His boss had gone to bat for him big time, against a woman Tony knew full well had been a significant part of Gibb's life at one time. He let it settle over him like a blanket, warming him when he felt there was no source in the world that could thaw the icy feeling the day had left in his heart and gut. Then he thought of something else and chuckled out loud, surprising his basement host.

"Hey Boss? Remember a few years ago when you took me to find my 'stang, and told me to not let anything spectacular happen to it like my 'vette getting stolen and disintegrated on the interstate? Remember what I told ya about how safe Mustangs were?"

Gibbs stopped his planing and looked up, smiling.

"Yeah, Tony. Something about it taking a bomb to destroy one of them. And that you weren't going to let one anywhere near that car."

"Ah yeahhh...famous last words..."

*********************

Gibbs roused Tony off his cot at the late hour of 0:800 and made him take a shower while he fixed them both some pancakes and sausage links. After surprising himself by eating a stack of cakes and several of the sausages, Tony felt a bit more human than he had yesterday, even with the gloom of losing both Jeanne and his beloved car in the same day.  
He knew the car was replaceable, and that he would probably fall in love again someday, but the guilt for lying to and hurting the sweet woman went deep, and would tear at him for months to come. There was no repairing that sort of hurt.

"Wanna go for a drive somewhere, we we've got some days off rotation, we could take a little road trip."

Tony stared at his boss as if the man was hatching baby chicks.

"Road trip? You and me? Like, in your Challenger?"

"Well, maybe not my Challenger. Here, go start the car, I'll grab our jackets."

Tony wasn't sure what the hell the man was talking about as he went out the front door. If they weren't taking the Challenger, then they were taking...a brand new 2008 Mustang Coupe? Where the hell had _that _come from? Alloy wheels, jet black.

Tony peered into the window at the interior. Five speed, on the floor. CD player and superior stereo equipment. Leather seats. Gibbs voice behind him startled him out of his reverie.

"Gonna ogle it all day or get in it and drive it?"

"Boss, where'd you get a sweet rental like _this _on such short notice?"

"Ain't any freakin' rental, Tony, it's yours. Got your name on the title, got the pink slip. Paid in full. Get in, let's go, I wanna see it move."

Tony was still in a state of shock as he opened the door and climbed in the driver's seat. What. The. Hell.

"Keys. Ignition. Clutch. Gear shift." Gibbs prodded in his ear. "Drive. I'll explain it to you. Just git goin' somewhere."

Tony obeyed all five steps, and headed down the quiet street with a roar. He got the feeling that Gibbs needed this time out as much as he did, and looked over at the man to see him with his head leaning back on the ample headrest, eyes closed, face gradually relaxing a bit. They drove a while in silence as Tony followed the road signs to Chesapeake and moved into a steady speed on the interstate.

"So." he stated out of nowhere. "Tell me about my new 'stang, Boss."

"Had to talk to Jenny last night after everything calmed down a little. Told her just what I thought of her idiotic Frog hunt. Told her to get you a car by morning. Didn't care how she got it or paid for it. Told her what I wanted, and she'd damned well better pull some of those strings she likes yankin' the rest of us around on and find a dealership to open for her. Wanted it in the driveway by 08:00 sharp."

"Or else?"

"Oh, I didn't need to add the 'or else', DiNozzo, she _really _didn't want to know what it was gonna be."

"So it's all paid for? I'll get insurance from my Mustang..."

"Yeah, you will. Put it in your savings account. This is coming out of the Director's ass. Where she gets it from is not my concern, or yours. She wants to play super spy using other people's lives and assets, she has to pay the price. Nobody ever said revenge was cheap."

Tony found a smidge of a smile at Gibb's verdict, and settled in for the drive down the coast, to enjoy the ocean air and scenery, and maybe put a little distance between reality and pretend for just a short while.

"Oh, and by the way. This is from me." Gibbs piped up, digging into his pants pocket and fishing out an envelope. He passed it to Tony, who deftly opened it while keeping his eyes on the road and elbows on the wheel. It was a graduation card, with five one hundred dollar bills inside it.

"What the - " He really didn't want to ask the man if he was going insane.

"When I graduated I didn't have a party, either. Went straight into the Marines. But Dad bought me the Challenger to rebuild, wanted to do it with me, didn't know I'd already signed up. He didn't really understand, but...he didn't make it hard for me, either. Day I left, he gave me a card with a hundred bucks in it to get me started in the Corps. A little beer money for R & R, he told me. That was over thirty years ago. Beer's gone up a bit in price since then. Anyways, I think it sucks yer family left ya hangin' for all your graduations...I'm sure no one bothered with your police academy graduation, either. Damned shame. Bet that was a helluva day for you."

"Yeah, Boss, it was." Tony answered, his voice choked with emotion from the memory of ceremonies with not one family member watching or waiting to celebrate with him, and now from Gibbs giving him a graduation card with money inside of it, and making sure he had a new car to drive.

"I figured a hundred bucks per ceremony - the military academy, college, police academy, and then FLETC, plus inflation."

"Yeah, well, there's always my graduation from the School of Hard Knocks, Boss."

"Oh hell, DiNozzo, you don't graduate from_ that _school till ya die, at least not guys like you and me. There's _always _gonna be something out there waiting to knock ya down, the important thing is, is getting back up and not crawlin' around in the mud till the next knock down. You already know about that, otherwise you never would've made it that far. So whataya gonna get with your graduation money?"

Tony burst out laughing, not even having time to get over the shock of the new car and now Gibb's gift. It was a lot of money for him to give, considering he was still paying at least one alimony payment every month.

"Well, there's this great bar in Panama City..."

Gibbs burst out laughing, his eyes crinkling with mirth and memories of Kate and Tony's private war of wet t-shirt contest picture and photo-shopped 'gay Tony' clip, both popping up accidentally on his email. He knew this road trip wouldn't cure what ailed either one of them, but it was going to be a good start.


End file.
